Stormont Vail Health’s New Cotton O’Neil North Clinic

Stormont Vail Health’s New Cotton O’Neil North Clinic

HMN Architects, Inc. has partnered with Stormont Vail Health and Boulder Associates to provide full architectural and interior design services for their new Cotton O’Neil North facility. This new clinic represents a design that is integrated with the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) approach to caregiving and is designed to facilitate health care that is relationship-based. The clinic provides a centralized setting for partnerships and interaction between patients and a team of caregivers. It’s location in the growing developments to the north of downtown Topeka offers convenience for patients and brings the high level of care offered by Stormont Vail Health directly into the community.

The two-story building has a total of nearly 40,000 SF of space. The site’s slope allowed for same-level walkout entry on each of the two floors, with an express care clinic and imaging services on the lower level and four provider “pods” on the second level. The exterior of the building retains material use consistent with Stormont Vail, including limestone accents, while also having a sloped and shingled mansard roof to integrate with the adjacent developments.

Upon entering an open and inviting waiting area, patients are greeted by a real person, however, the check-in kiosks allow for shorter waiting times. From your arrival, you get the best of both worlds – interaction and care from team members in an environment that values the urgent needs of patients with the latest technology. As patients move in to the treatment areas of the facility, color-coded “pods” of rooms create a fully open, collaborative clinic. Gone are individual offices for physicians and staff, replaced with an open work area with direct lines of sight into exam rooms, accented with glass partitions and a variety of work surfaces. This allows Stormont Vail to provide a team based approach to an individual’s treatment, with constantly flowing information between a group of people who are all working to deliver care. And treatment is supplemented by learning in this environment. Flexible ancillary rooms can be used for group visits which help engage patients in the process of wellness learning. This represents another major tenant of the PCMH approach – that of the local community aiding in the support process.

Cotton O’Neil North represents a design integrated with a newer, more interactive type of caregiving and this collaboration will result in a better, more holistic patient experience.